


Mugged

by Manni26



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Attack, F/M, Harlem, Love, Mugging, NYC, New York, Panic Attacks, assualt, mugged, proposal
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-17
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 00:15:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21828085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manni26/pseuds/Manni26
Summary: Living in New York wasn’t all Nancy thought it would be to, and if she thought the Upside Down was bad, she’d only have to take a short cut through the park to see something worse.
Relationships: Jonathan Byers & Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Karen Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Nancy Wheeler/Joyce Byers, Nancy Wheeler/Karen Wheeler
Comments: 10
Kudos: 14





	1. A Chilly January Night

The frigid, icy January air stung and shocked her lungs as she sprinted down the less-crowded New York streets. With her legs pumping and arms swinging, Nancy darted down various avenues while frequently glancing behind her. Blood from her forehead dripped down and mixed with her broken nose, all of which made breathing increasingly difficult. 

It was late, about eight o’clock, and though the streets of Harlem were less crowded than normal, it was by no means empty. Had Nancy been racing through Hawkins in the state she was in, any passerby would have stopped her and inquired about her bleeding face, exhausted yet adrenaline filled appearance, and frightened expression. 

Not in New York, the city she’d been so excited to move to, though. 

In New York people saw you but didn’t at the same time. It wasn’t that they didn’t care but rather a form of self protection. As Nancy had begun to learn, there were a lot of creeps inhabiting those neighborhoods with bad intentions.

She ran in no particular direction, not knowing where home was. It was both chaotic and frustrating that her brain had switched from Logical Nancy Wheeler to Fight or Flight Mode. All she wanted, out of everything in that moment, was to be home with Jonathan, curled up peacefully in their cramped apartment. 

Breath in. 

Breath out. 

Breath in.

Breath out. 

Tears streamed down Nancy’s frosty, pale cheeks while she struggled to breath, still running in a confused direction. Her legs felt both warm and cold at the same time; the stockings she’d worn to school that morning had been torn off and discarded somewhere in the park. 

That park. 

Why did she think that cutting through Morningside Park was a good idea, especially so late in the evening? She’d heard the stories the locals told about how dangerous the area was. What made her think that a short cut was smart? 

The men. 

Their faces-.

Before her mind could indulge her in the thoughts of her attackers in detail, she slammed into a doorman who didn’t see her coming and tumbled to the ground. Her body laid in a pile on the gritty, grimy sidewalk. 

“Miss? Miss?” The doorman begged as he stumbled to his feet. 

Somehow, sprawled on the pavement, she formed something between a laugh and a sob in response to his words. 

“Are you alright? You’re bleeding...” the doorman gazed closer to see the blotchy purple bruises forming on her pale, sickly skin as well as the red spots that appeared on her torso and legs. 

He stood immediately upon noticing the marks, swung open the door to the building, and screamed to his coworkers.

“Call an ambulance!” He demanded. 

When he came back out the sidewalk he found Nancy sitting more upright, confusion evident. 

“I’m Darryl. Can you tell me your name?” He sweetly asked her. It took her a moment to comprehend his words, but she managed to understand. 

“Nancy...Wheeler,” she answered through her tears. 

“What happened to you, honey?” 

She gazed deeply at Darryl’s face and wondered if he would have noticed her if she hadn’t smacked right into him. He was a towering, portly man, African-American, with kind eyes. His suit, once a nice new uniform, had been covered in the grime from the ground thanks to Nancy. 

“I...I...I was walking...and these men jumped on me and pushed me to the ground. I thought they were...um...gonna rob me I guess. They took my backpack and my purse...”

“Did they hurt you? What happened-.”

Nancy’s face crumbled, her sobs uncontrollable and loud. Darryl didn’t finish his question, but rather, took Nancy’s bloody, bruised face and clutched it against his warm, inviting shoulder. 

“It’s gonna be okay, sweetheart, it’s gonna be okay,” he assured her as the flashing red and blue lights appeared.


	2. The Necklace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nancy and Jonathan in the hospital directly after the mugging.

“Is there anyone we can call for you?” A nurse with kind eyes questioned as she finished wrapping a nasty cut on Nancy’s arm, “a roommate? Mom? Boyfriend?” The cut was long, bloody, and ran down most of Nancy’s right forearm, stinging when the nurse wiped it.

Nancy could hear the words, just wasn’t able to fully comprehend their meaning. She knew she was in the hospital, realized she had been attacked, but it wasn’t until she unconsciously put her hand to her chest and didn’t feel her necklace that she snapped back to reality. 

That necklace. 

Like many of Nancy’s possessions, it held a special significance in her life. Just a tiny, oval opal set in a gold plated chain, it laid on her chest from her birthday in 1985 until that night. Perhaps if it had been some common piece of costume jewelry she’d bought for herself at the mall she wouldn’t have felt her heart beat quicken, wouldn’t have had an overwhelming feeling of panic when she realized it no longer sat around her purple and blue bruised neck. It was special; it was the first gift she’s received from...

...Jonathan. 

“Honey, did you hear me? Is there someone I can call for you?” The nurse repeated, attempting to get an answer from Nancy. 

“Jonathan...” Nancy softly while a tear as hot as a diner’s cast iron skillet kept on a stove all day rolled down her cheek. What would he think of her? 

“Who’s Jonathan?” The nurse quietly asked as she put the last piece of tape on Nancy’s bandage. 

Nancy’s large, sky blue eyes pointed to the nurse’s face before she responded “my boyfriend.” 

With a heavy heart Nancy relayed Jonathan’s contact information to the calming nurse who put her arm around Nancy in a mothering way. 

“Everything’s going to be okay,” she reassured her, “I’m gonna go give your boyfriend a call and then I’ll be right back.”

Breath in.

Breath out. 

...

As promised, the nurse returned and sat with Nancy until Jonathan came running into the exam room, cheeks flushed and eyes filled with insurmountable concern.

“Are you okay? Are you okay?” He frantically begged as he grabbed her and held her tight in his arms. 

Nancy didn’t have the ability to tell him she was fine. She could have lied to him and told him everything was okay, but it wasn’t. Physically, she was bruised, beaten, and exhausted but mentally she was broken. Rather than forming words her mouth remained silent, eyes still moist from the tears that had previously fallen. 

“Mr. Byers,” The Nurse who sat beside Nancy spoke up, pulling his attention from Nancy, “my name is Monica. I’m gonna have the doctor come in and he’ll tell you about some after care procedures and how she’s doing.” With a brief smile, Monica has walked out the small door to the hallway. 

“Nance, what happened?” Jonathan questioned as he stared intensely into her forlorn eyes. 

Breath in. 

Breath out. 

“I...I just wanted to go home,” she recalled, “and I cut through the park by Columbia. I don’t know...it was stupid...I had my Walkman on and was listening to the new tape you made me and I wasn’t paying attention. These guys...I didn’t even see them coming and they pushed me to the ground and started hitting me and I thought they were just gonna steal my money but...”

Her breathing became irregular and panicked as she relayed more of the event. 

“They held me down...one had a knife and the other started pulling down my tights and...they would have done something...I tried fighting back but there were two of them and they were strong and...” 

She could see so much fear, hurt, and anguish behind Jonathan’s eyes. Perhaps she’d been physically harmed, mentally and emotionally too, but she knew Jonathan, and knew exactly why an event such as that would hurt him so much. For twenty years of his life, Jonathan was the protector. He guarded Will and Joyce from Lonnie, helped bring Will back from the brink of oblivion twice, and protected her with every part of his soul. 

Hearing her story broke his heart, she could see it in the subtle way his eyes darted down at his hands then back to her face, the way he bit and chewed on the corner of his lip, the way his hands balled into fists so tight she could only imagine that his fingers would break. Telling Jonathan her story could have actually been worse than the events that transpired. How could she tell him everything that happened when she was afraid he’d crumble in the process?

“...Nancy?” Jonathan spoke after a moment of silence. 

“They tried to rape me, but something spooked them and they left. I tried to fight back...they were so much bigger than me...” her eyes looked down at her scraped and scratched hands. 

Breath in. 

Breath out. 

“Hey, it’s gonna be okay, Nance, it’s gonna be okay,” he grabbed her and pulled her in tightly to his chest. With gentle fingers, he stroked her long, curly, dark chestnut hair. His heart was beating so fast Nancy could hear it with little effort. There was a nervousness in the way he held her that she hadn’t sensed since the first time he’d put his arms around her body; his trembling was uncontrollable. 

“They took my necklace,” she confessed in the smallest, most pathetic voice as tears dropped down her cheeks once more. Jonathan hugged her tighter as she cried. 

“What are you talking about?” He questioned. 

“The necklace you gave me, the one with the opal, they took it and now I’m never going to get it back and...” 

Jonathan turned Nancy’s wet face into his chest and clutched the back of her head. He wished with all his heart and soul that he could take her pain away, go back in time and prevent the whole event from ever taking place. Nancy gave him indescribable feelings of joy, love, and lust, so to see her hurting as much as she was broke a piece of him apart. The necklace may have seemed like a small thing, but he knew exactly why she put so much emphasis on it. 

It was Nancy’s seventeenth birthday when he gave it to her: they’d been dating about three months. To be honest, he had no idea what to get her as he never really shopped for a girl before. When he questioned his mother, she gave him simple advice “give her something from your heart”. Because Nancy loved delicate, simple jewelry and because she made him feel big things, he decided that a necklace and a confession was the best he could do. 

The night of her birthday he took her to the woods where they had once shot guns and talked about their parents relationships and presented her with the rectangular black velvet box. As she opened it he could see the sparkle in her eyes as she met his and kissed his lips. 

“Nancy,” he’d said to her in the smallest voice he had, “I love you.” 

She had been momentarily stunned: they hadn’t used those words yet. Something in the way he confessed it like he’d been holding it in for a lifetime, the shiny reflection on the moon in his intense eyes, and the look of his brave, maturing face made all the pieces in her life fall into place. Her heart felt like it was swelling with glee in her chest when she finally wrapped her arms around his neck and revealed that she, in fact, loved him too. 

That was why the necklace meant so much to Nancy.

“It’s gonna be okay Nancy,” was all Jonathan could offer his girlfriend as she soaked his coat in bitter forlorn tears. 

...

A few difficult moments later Dr. Todemann came to the room and requested Jonathan speak in the hallway with him as a nurse did a few final procedures with Nancy. 

“I’m not gonna sugar coat it, she’s in pretty rough shape,” Dr. Todemann explained, “her nose is broken, her arms have some cuts from a knife, and she’s covered in bruises. You’ll probably notice over the next few days that she might seem a little absent, kinda lost. It’s very common in women who’ve been sexually assaulted that they might withdraw from sexual activity and-.”

“Wait...What?” 

Jonathan looked perplexed for a moment. 

“Nancy was raped. We found evidence of...”

The words of the doctor faded in Jonathan’s preoccupied mind. High levels of guilt plagued his body, distracting him from the busy world around him. How could he have let this happen? Why didn’t he go to her school and walk her home? How could he have allowed another being harm the one he loved so dearly?

Why didn’t she tell him what really happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More to come, stay tuned!


	3. Weak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things at home become tense when Nancy hides details from Jonathan.

Jonathan didn’t say anything to Nancy when she didn’t get out of bed for two days. He knew she had to have a hurricane going on inside of her, and he felt like it was best for him to stay away and let her heal. She hadn’t wanted him to know the truth of what was going on with her, the sexual aspect to her assault, and because of that he tried not to pry. 

Sure, it was hard to watch the woman he loved self destruct, but that’s what she wanted. She didn’t trust him enough to tell the truth. Guilt and frustration built up in his stomach, churning and flipping like an acrobat on the high bars. 

It wasn’t until the third day, when he came home from a quick food shopping (he didn’t want to leave her alone for more than an hour or two) that he saw her in the bed and decided to speak up. 

“Nance,” he quietly announced as he walked into the messy sleeping quarters, “Do you want to come out into the living room and watch tv or something?” 

“No,” he heard a growl from under a pillow. 

That was it. 

Just a simple ‘no’. 

It’s not that Jonathan was angry with her, it was that he didn’t understand. He wanted to take care of her, help her with her emotions like he had after she came out of the upside down, after Barb’s death, after they fought the bloody, gooey corpses of their undead bosses. Why didn’t she trust him enough to tell him what really happened? 

“I think I’m gonna have to call your mom,” Jonathan spoke up. The words were half way between concern for Nancy’s well being, and a somewhat-threat. 

“No!” Her head sprung up from the pillow, “you can’t do that!” Her hair was messy, having not brushed it in three days, sticking up from all sides. She wore Jonathan’s Clash t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants he’d never seen her put on before. 

“Nancy, I have to...” Jonathan attempted to explain, “I’m worried about you. You haven’t moved in three days and-.” 

“Please, just please don’t call her,” Nancy interrupted, a tinge of anger in her voice. 

Why was he trying to call her parents? She felt frustration and anger in her core as she stared at him in the doorway, clenching his fist and releasing it. 

Sure, she’d been in bed for three days, but she was upset. Her life had changed drastically in one night, and she had to deal with it alone. When Jonathan took her home that evening he was different, distant. It was almost like he didn’t want her anymore because she was weak. 

She couldn’t fight them off. 

Nancy had battled monsters from other dimensions and defeated her asshole bosses, how could she have not defended herself against two punks with a knife? For so long she thought nothing was scarier than the Demogorgon from the Upside Down, but it turned out that people with bad intensions could be deadlier. 

Jonathan had comforted her after pulling her from a tree in the woods and they hadn’t even been dating! But for reasons she didn’t understand, he couldn’t find it in his heart to lay in the bed with her, wrap his arms around her broken body, and tell her it would be okay. When he brought her home, he put her to bed and slept on the couch citing that she needed the all the room in their small bed. The second night he claimed that he didn’t want to disturb her. The third night he hadn’t even bothered to make an excuse, just took his pillow and went out to the makeshift bed in the living room. 

Part of her wanted to scream at him for being so cold to her and for having the audacity of wanting to call her mother for help, the other part wanted to make herself as small as possible and hide in a corner to whimper and cry. 

So much was wrong in her world. 

Physically, she was a mess. When they’d gotten home from the hospital, Nancy went to the bathroom before laying down in bed and what she saw in the mirror was nothing short of a monster. Below her normally perfect blue eyes were black raccoon circles, her nose bandaged in thick white plaster, and a massive crimson cut sat on her jawline. Below was her bruised neck, a handprint almost visible. 

The worst mistake she’d made was sitting on the toilet, for when she glanced down at her thighs she saw the purple and black marks from where one of the attacker’s prayed her legs open. Her stomach was sick, head reeling, eyes releasing the last of her tears. It was all so real- it was like finally admitting to herself that the whole ordeal had actually happened.

Mentally, she was robbed of life, trust, and confidence. She didn’t feel comfortable alone in the apartment that she and Jonathan had treasured and loved and worked so hard to get. The thought of going to school overwhelmed her- going past that horrible park. She was not going to be okay. 

The biggest part of her existence that was wrong was what her relationship with Jonathan had become. She just couldn’t bring herself to tell him about the rape...she knew he’d crumble at the thought of it. She was determined to deal with it by herself, even if it meant putting up with vast amounts of pain. 

...

The evening came and Jonathan shuffled into the bedroom once more to find all the lights off and Nancy curled up on the bed, crying. 

“Nance,” he whispered as he quietly made his way towards the bed, “Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” she sniffled through the tears.

He kept quiet for a moment or two. So badly did he want to question her about the details of her attack, ask her why she didn’t tell him about the rape. Was he asking her to help her with her emotions, or because he felt like it was a betrayal? 

“I was gonna make some dinner, I just wanted to know what I could make you,” He sheepishly asked. 

“Nothing,” she whispered. Jonathan took a deep breath. 

“Nancy you have to eat something.”

“I’m fine.”

“Nance, it’s been three days!” He spoke in a harsher tone. 

Nancy’s body jumped up from the bed in the dark, her eyes angry and burning with a flame he’d never seen before. 

“So what, three days is it? I can only be upset for three days, is that what you’re saying?!?!” She overreacted and misconstrued his words. 

Jonathan’s form tensed and he felt words come out of his mouth that he didnt mean to say. 

“That’s not what I said!” He spat with aggression. 

“But that’s what you meant, right? That’s why you keep coming in here every goddamn hour to check on me?” 

“What are you talking about? I just wanted to make you dinner-.” 

“Yeah right!” Nancy laughed in the most psychotic way Jonathan had ever heard, “you are such an ass!” 

“Oh, I’m an ass! Really? I’ve stayed home from work and school for three days to take care of you!” He didn’t mean to say it the way he did, like she was pathetic or incapable of taking care of herself. 

“You’re here to take care of me? Really! You won’t even stay in the same room as me! You’ve been on the phone and out food shopping the whole damn day! I asked you not to call my mom but I heard you on the phone! You never listen! And for your information, I don’t need your protection, okay! It’s not like it helped...” her voice trailed off as she realized what words were coming out of her mouth. Jonathan’s face immediately turned blank, pale, like he no longer inhabited his own body. 

“I didn’t mean that...” Nancy tried to backtrack. 

He didn’t know what to say. A stray tear fell from his right eye, then one from his left. Nancy had never seem Jonathan cry before. 

For days she’d feared telling him the truth about her assault. She knew the kind of man he was, she remembered how awful he felt when Will had been possessed and he wasn’t there to protect him. The guilt that Jonathan felt from that one event followed him for years after, and she’d been so careful to not tell him upsetting details. 

So yes, she succeeded in not telling him about the rape, about how the two men held her down, how each took their turn on her and only left because they were spooked. She managed to keep it as quiet as she wanted to. But in the process she pointed out the one thing she knew would hurt him as bad as the two rapists had hurt her.

That he couldn’t protect her. 

Without speaking, Jonathan brushed the tears out of his eyes, turned, and walked out of the bedroom to the living room where he quietly grabbed a thin sweater. 

“Jonathan, Wait...” Nancy spoke softly as she chased after him, leaving the bedroom/bathroom area for the first time in three days. Jonathan didn’t speak, just put on his sweater and walked out the door. 

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More to come, thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a story that I was inspired to write when I was staying in New York for a convention. Nancy is a strong character that’s so sure of herself, usually so tough, that I thought it would be interesting to create a new problem that would break her down and rebuild her a little bit. Violence in NY is pretty common, and when people from out of town come around here they can sometimes be ignorant to the dangers around. Anyway, enjoy! More chapters to come!


End file.
